We recently interviewed 2021 Lincoln student Sidney Mulholland about her journey so far to understand more about the Lincoln experience and events on offer for students to broaden their education and networks.
Sidney is originally from Sydney and moved to Adelaide to begin a Bachelor of Veterinary Bioscience/Doctor of Medicine at The University of Adelaide. When it came to considering her accommodation options, Lincoln was an immediate favourite.
“College seemed like the best possible place to stay in a new city to allow me to establish connections and find great friends,” she shares.
Lincoln is a great choice for new students who have moved to the city to study because they can walk right into an established community and start making friends.
With her move to Adelaide, Sidney brought her very diverse interests. Alongside her keen love for science, she is also an accomplished artist.
Art has always been important to Sidney. She describes herself as “very crafty” and explains that she grew up experimenting with different art forms in her dad’s garage.
“I could throw paint on a canvas or piece of timber and basically do whatever I liked,” she remembers.
In Year 12, Sidney studied biology, chemistry and art. Her choice of subjects culminated in her creating a project called ‘Cyclophosphamide’ that combined her passion for art with science. Cyclophosphamide is a drug used in chemotherapy to treat a range of cancers – Sidney’s artwork explores how human blood cells divide.
Although Sidney’s double degree is exciting and demanding, and heavily focused on science and medicine, she ensures that she finds time to continue her artistic practice.
Sidney was this year awarded the Lincoln Arts Award after submitting her artwork to a panel of judges. Winning the award for her painting pictured above, Fairy Wren, involved a cash prize and recognition by Rockford Wines, including artwork placement on their gift cards in 2022.
Left image: Stars and Trees (Photograph), by Amos Lee
Right image: Eucalypt (Drawing), by Sidney Mulholland
—–
Sidney credits the award with allowing her to continue her passion for art while studying her degree.
“[Winning the Lincoln Arts Award shows that] your hobbies can be recognised by your community.”
Sidney’s experience demonstrates that studying and forging a career in a different field is compatible with a fulfilling career in art. Further, Lincoln College’s valuing of her artistic work provides powerful motivation to keep up her practice in addition to her studies. This is just one of the ways that Lincoln College fosters the talents of its students and encourages a broad range of activities and hobbies outside of university courses.
In the future, Sidney hopes to create many more artworks to enter into competitions such as the Royal Adelaide Show and possibly, one day, sell to art lovers. No doubt, her degree will provide new and exciting inspiration for future works from the fields of medicine and bioscience!
